PARIS, June 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — French President Emmanuel Macron played down an incident that saw him slapped by a man while meeting a crowd in the southeast of the country, blaming “ultra-violent” individuals.
“I am doing fine. We must put this incident, which I think is an isolated event, into perspective,” he told the Dauphine Libere newspaper in an interview after the incident in the village of Tain-l’Hermitage in the Drome region.
But he added: “Let’s not let isolated events, ultra-violent individuals… take hold of the public debate: they do not merit it.”
Macron was slapped in the face by a man on Tuesday during a visit to a small town in southeastern France, an incident that prompted a wide show of support for French politicians from all sides.
The French president was greeting the public waiting for him behind barriers in the town of Tain-l’Hermitage after he visited a high school that is training students to work in hotels and restaurants.
A video shows a man slapping Macron in the face and his bodyguards pushing the man away as the French leader is quickly rushed from the scene.
A bodyguard, who was standing right behind Macron, raised a hand in defence of the president, but was a fraction of a second too late to stop the slap. The bodyguard then put his arm around the president to protect him.
Macron just managed to turn his face away as the attacker’s right hand connected, making it seem that he struck more of a glancing blow than a direct slap.
French news broadcaster BFM TV said two people have been detained by police.
The man, who was wearing a mask, appears to have cried out “Montjoie! Saint Denis!”, a centuries-old royalist war cry, before finishing with “A bas la Macronie”, or “Down with Macron”. — NNN-AGENCIES
